quilt national 2011

The San Jose Quilt Museum  http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/ currently has the Quilt National 2011 quilts until April 29, 2011.  If you have the chance, it is worth a visit.  My husband Larry asked me on the drive there "Whats the difference between these quilts and the International Quilt Festival? What a loaded question.  I said that these are contemporary art quilts.  The IQF quilts are more traditional.

Unfortunately we were not able to take photos of the quilts.  So here is a photo of the wonderful book that the Dairy Barn Arts Center published in Athens Ohio.

The exhibit was wonderful.  I was so proud to see the California quilters Ellen Oppenheimer's our own EBHQ member BR #1 and Tanya Browns "Farmer Brown".  I had taken two fabric dying classes from Ellen and was very impressed with her skill and attention to detail.

I think my favorite quilts were the Shibori dyed ones.  Elin Noble's "Fugitive Pieces" and Sue Cavanaughs "Ori'Kume 20" really stood out for me.  I had taken a class with Sue Cavanaugh and the size of her piece is very impressive.  In the workshop, she was able to take us step by step in her technique.  We tried a small 8 inch piece so to see this large quilt was a treat.

Larry liked the quilt "Mother Me, Mother you".  He said you could see it as 3 ladies or an elephant in the room.  What elephant.  What ladies?  I couldn't see what he was seeing.  He said this is what he thinks quilts are.  Using recycled fabric to make something that pleases your eyes and makes you want to keep looking at it to see the details.  Wow.  I have a lot to learn.

Since we couldn't take pictures of the quilt national quilts, here are 2 quilts that were at the entrance from the san jose museum collection.

Hexagon and Stars

This quilt had all the Quilting Guilds in it.  Do you see the EBHQ block in the top right?

How wonderful.